Elle (Prime Video) Series Review: Pink & Fierce

With memorable fashion, a lot of pink, and a sometimes predictable script, Elle treads a fine line between pointless and entertaining.

As she learns to live in and appreciate the rainy city in Washington State, Elle must face new challenges, such as the entire student body seemingly hating her and a very different social life than the one she was used to until now.

Elle’s mum, Eva Woods (June Diane Raphael, of Stop! That! Train!), is one of the best and most compelling characters in Elle. Not only is she the one who delivers some of the funniest moments of the show and drives the plot in a significant way, but her own storyline is incredibly fascinating and, at times, even more interesting than the main plot involving her daughter. From home editor to campaign advisor, Eva also goes through her own growth and character arc as the family moves to Seattle and she has to learn how to live in a new strange city while parenting her teen daughter. 

While some of the acting choices do not always land, especially when it comes to the younger cast members in Elle, June Diane Raphael is incredible as Eva, creating the perfect balance of humour and tenderness. Lexi Minetree also delivers a fantastic performance throughout the show, perfectly embodying a young Elle Woods. Not only does Lexi look incredibly similar to Reese Weatherspoon, who played the original Elle in the movie and serves as an executive producer in the show, but she also recreates her mannerism and way of talking in a very natural way. 

Lexi’s acting choices immediately make the audience feel like we are watching a young Elle Woods on our screen, but this is also helped by the costumes. Vintage, unique, and pink, the costume design for Elle does a really good job at establishing her personality and personal struggles with every single outfit that she wears. The same can be said for other characters who all have their own fashion and aesthetic, often making Elle’s stand out as the odd one out, and the pinkest of them all. The show also uses costumes to reference the original movie, showing a clear inspiration to some of the iconic looks of Legally Blonde. There are many callbacks to the latter in the costume design, but also in the cinematography and script which recreates some of the most memorable moments of the movies in the Seattle setting.

When it comes to the script and writing of Elle, however, the show quickly becomes very predictable. While the themes it sets out to portray are interesting and certainly very relatable to the audience who will most likely have struggled with similar issues, they do not always land. On the one hand, these could have been handled a lot better in the writing of the show. For example, Elle’s culture show in moving to a new city would have been a lot more impactful and plausible if she had moved to an entirely different country. On the other hand, some of Elle’s struggles, such as the fact that she has never not been liked before by anybody, are neither relatable to the wider audience nor realistic or believable. 

While the show does pick up in the second half, the first few episodes of Elle are quite slow and unfortunately relatively tedious at times. Some of the storylines and subplots are also not very interesting and admittedly feel like a filler to cover an 8-episode runtime than actual plot points that are relevant to Elle’s growth. Once the show gets past its halfway point and finally focuses on more interesting matters, such as the investigation Elle and her friends start on the school’s administration, it becomes much more compelling and fun to watch. Unfortunately, the detective part of the storyline could have also been handled better in the final episode as some parts of it are left open ended and without a real answer. 

Overall, Elle is going to be very nostalgic for fans of Legally Blonde and Legally Blonde: Red, White & Blonde with its costumes, callbacks to the originals, and a refreshing new setting that challenges Elle Woods like never before. However, does the prequel really feel necessary? I could not help but find this part of the story not nearly as interesting or compelling as the original films were. While nostalgic and at times quite profound and funny, a lot of the Prime Video tv show also feels redundant and exclusively aimed at the existing fanbase.

Elle will be available to stream globally on Prime Video on June 1, 2026.